What thermal paste do you use for your i7 920/940xm?

So I just recently got around to buying an i7 920xm for my Alienware M15x. I currently have Artic MX-4. I am wondering whether or not I should buy some Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra for this new processor. I have never used Liquid Ultra before but have been reading great reviews for it. Is it really worth purchasing for the M15x? Can I expect noticeably lower temperatures (non-overclocked) compared to the MX-4? When I say noticeably, I mean something greater than 3 degrees Celsius.

Any thoughts, opinions? Should I be considering a different thermal paste?

Edit: Since I am here, is it possible to install a higher rated (CFM-wise) cpu or gpu heatsink fan?

 

Now i'm using Indium Heat-Spring on my 920XM. Tried Coollaboratory LiquidPro as well.
BTW, Arctic Cooling MX-4 is a great thermal interface for money which asks for it.

 

Honestly, I've tried liquid ultra and diamond based thermal past in several systems. Liquid ultra works wonders in larger systems where the heatsink/fan design are actually large enough to move heat out of the system. In the M15x, there is little difference between diamond paste and liquid ultra/metal paste because of how little the heatsink is and how small the fan is. They are incapable of moving the heat the 920XM produces when overclocked.

 

I think you are right on. I have about 4 different pastes I have in my office. MX-4, Geild GC-Exteme, AS5 and Grizzy Kryonaut. I like Kyronaut the best so far. If I am working on an older system that runs at stock speeds I us the AS5 because it is much better than stock paste normally used by OEMs.

 

I've had a hard time keeping my 920xm running cool, regardless of what the ambient temperature is. But out of 4 or 5 different thermal pastes I've tried, I've had the best results with 7 Carat IC Diamond across the board on several machines. And strangely, the worst luck with Arctic Silver (maybe I'm just bad at applying paste, but everyone seems to love the stuff).

 

So what type of temperatures are you getting with Indium Heat-Spring? That product looks interesting.

 

What is ur temp and settings on 920xm ? And what is the safe temp for 920xm ? i mean, i know with 100c its just turn off pc, but what is the safe operational temp without damage anything ?

 

Depends on ambient temperature in the room.
Here is an 1024M run in ThrottleStop, you can see cpu temp and fan speed on the screenshot.

 

I found liquid ultra worked very well on my gpu but badly on the cpu.

I believe my cpu heatsink is not sitting very flush with the die which is a must with this sort of themal compound.

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I have Gelid GC Extreme on my GPU and CPU. I also replaced the thermal pads with slightly upgraded ones. The CPU temperature dropped almost 10C and the GPU had never really gotten too hot (5850m) but now it's super cool. It rarely breaks 70C gaming in Guild Wars 2 with the core overclocked to 720.

 

I was running my 940XM at 27x on all four cores last night while gaming. Never exceeded 80c.

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Kryonaut/GC extreme or Liquid Metal

 

Are you using any cooling mod?

 

what sorcery is this?

 

I did have the bottom cover off and I have a 9 cell battery.

Ok, since I put the cover back on I have run 3 matches of Mechwarrior Online and I did see a max temp of 81c. It does better with the cover off.

Spoiler

 

80c for 27x is very good indeed. Are your ambient temps low? Cpu running full speed?

Perhaps mech warrior isnt too cpu intensive?



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I highly doubt that a 27x4 940xm under full load will stay anywhere near 80 degC. CPU is probably not under full utilization

 

If this mind someone heres my configs.

Config 1 - Disable Turbo:


Config 2 - 25, 24 ,23 ,23


Config 3- 27, 27, 27, 27


Here's my cooling setup.
Before you ask, yes i've 7 copper coins attached to my heatsink, helps to temperature mitigation.
Do not ask what is my thermal paste, its a white sh*t , i don't have money to buy a better one





And i got a question, i lost my thermalpads (too old) from some stuff next to my processor, it could help to keep a better temperature ?
This pic is not mine, i found at internet and using just to show where thermalpads was before i remove and lost it.

 

The thermal pads for the inductors you highlighted are 1mm thick in case you want to replace them. You can always use that white silicone paste on those for the time being. If you do decide on better paste, Gelid GC Extreme works well and is even thick enough to use in place of thermal pads in certain situations.

 

Yes, running flat out in game. Makes a huge difference as it brings fps from a low of mid 20's to mid 50's.

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You are correct sir. I have not run prime95 on it. It is Mechwarrior stable and that's it. I had it running at 28x for about 10 minutes in a match before it blue screened.

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Still good for the old dog of a cpu!

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Yes it is.

Recently I have been yearning to build a desktop. I got a GTX 690 for $150. I am looking at what else I can get and am seriously leaning towards 1st Gen i7 because it is so cheap and durable.

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Actually, it is a CPU bound game based the things I have read. This is a good example.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OutreachHP...wo_is_a_cpu_bound_and_how_should_you_upgrade/

tl;dr;
It uses Cryengine 3 based on DX9 and was later upgraded to DX11, but they botched it?